KEY MOMENTS IN FILM HISTORY - 2019/0

Module Overview

This module introduces students to cinema history and to the way it has so far been conceptualized by film historians and film theorists, highlighting important moments and transitions, such as that from the cinema of attractions to the cinema of narrative integration, and from propaganda to protest. It also presents important movements in film history such as Soviet Montage, German Expressionism and the French New Wave covering a wide range of historically significant films.

Module provider

School of Literature and Languages

Module Leader

HUGHES Helen (Lit & Langs)

Number of Credits: 15

ECTS Credits: 7.5

Framework: FHEQ Level 4

Module cap (Maximum number of students): 40

Module Availability

Semester 1

Prerequisites / Co-requisites

None This module has a capped number and may not be available to ERASMUS and other international exchange students. Please check with the departmental exchange coordinator.

Module content

 Indicative content includes:

• Early cinema and the cinema of attractions


• Classical studio filmmaking


• British film propaganda


• Expressionist film 


• Italian Neo-Realism


• French New Wave


• New Hollywood

Assessment pattern

Alternative Assessment

Recorded presentation or oral examination.

Assessment Strategy

The assessment strategy is designed to provide students with the opportunity to demonstrate knowledge of an important moment or period of film history, the ability to historicise films and film techniques, and the skills to creatively apply a historical framework of analysis to film case studies.

Thus, the summative assessment for this module consists of:

• Essay Plan 


• Essay 

• Short reading and writing tasks


• One-to-one feedback on essay plans (submitted in week 10)


• Feedback in seminars

Module aims

• Introduce students to the emergence and development of cinema as a medium from the end of the 19th century.
• Provide students with a framework for the historical analysis of individual films, film movements and changes in the cinema industry taking into account a constellation of artistic, social, economic, political and technological factors that have shaped and continue to shape cinema as a medium

Learning outcomes

Methods of Teaching / Learning

 The learning and teaching strategy is designed to:

• Provide students with the necessary knowledge and analytical skills to approach film-related subjects from a historical perspective


• Give the students the chance to apply the tools of historical analysis to a case study and share their knowledge with the class

• Lecturer presentations using illustrative materials


• Seminar discussions

Indicated Lecture Hours (which may also include seminars, tutorials, workshops and other contact time) are approximate and may include in-class tests where one or more of these are an assessment on the module. In-class tests are scheduled/organised separately to taught content and will be published on to student personal timetables, where they apply to taken modules, as soon as they are finalised by central administration. This will usually be after the initial publication of the teaching timetable for the relevant semester.

Reading list

https://readinglists.surrey.ac.uk
Upon accessing the reading list, please search for the module using the module code: MFC1021

Programmes this module appears in

Please note that the information detailed within this record is accurate at the time of publishing and may be subject to change. This record contains information for the most up to date version of the programme / module for the 2019/0 academic year.